un gratte-ciel
a skyscraper
Il y a beaucoup de gens à New York qui travaillent dans les gratte-ciel.
There are many people in New York who work in skyscrapers.
MORE ABOUT TODAY’S WORD
In French, gratter means to scratch or to scrape. And ciel means sky. Now, you see where the French word for skyscraper comes from. You might also notice that its plural has no s. While there is not universal agreement about this detail, several respected sources cite the plural of gratte-ciel as les gratte-ciel; others say the s is to be added. Be prepared to see it with and without the s.
THIS WEEK
We’ll cover some of the words unique to life in the city, la vie en ville.
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